Random loot packs are the best-selling item in free-to-play City of Heroes

When Paragon Studios introduced grab bags filled with random loot called Super Packs to City of Heroes' cash shop back in February, the players flipped out. Their outrage flowed into forums and blogs everywhere and it was clear that most of them hated the idea. But Paragon carried on, insisting that the players would change their minds.

Three months later, Paragon announced that they are now the best-selling item in the game's cash shop and a complete success.

The news was announced last week at the City of Heroes Player Summit in Palo Alto, CA. As I walked around the event and talked with the players, it seemed like almost all of them really had changed their tune on Super Packs as Paragon had predicted. A few still booed at the news of their selling well, but most were happily talking about what they'd gotten in the packs they purchased.

Some smarter people than me took the number of Super Packs sold so far (600,000) and calculated out an estimate of exactly what has been doled out to the playerbase for their collective $600,000 investment. Each pack costs $1 on the store and contains five cards, which can be clicked on to watch them flip over and reveal the prizes on the other side. Rewards range from temporary XP boosts to exclusive costume sets only found inside these random packs.

Last month on the site, I talked about DC Universe Online adding random loot elements and compared it to similar gambling-style mechanics in other free-to-play MMOs. Do you like the thrill of buying random rewards, or would you rather know exactly what you're getting upfront?